Purse snatched in Owen BrownHoward County police said a purse snatcher grabbed a 38-year-old woman's purse Thursday night as she walked in Owen Brown and fled with $150 in cash.About 9 p.m. Thursday, the victim and her husband were at the Owen Brown Village Center in the 7200 block of Cradlerock Way when a man grabbed the woman's purse from behind, police said.The purse contained $150 in cash and other personal property, police said.The Columbia woman received a minor cut on a finger, police said.

Sweep finds many vehicle violations When officers from the Eastern District and detectives from the auto theft unit, along with investigators from the Motor Vehicle Administration, conducted a check of vehicle violations in the Pasadena and Glen Burnie areas last month, they found numerous violations and collected tens of thousands of dollars in fees. Police said 75 sets of Maryland plates were removed from vehicles and seized by MVA investigators during the sweeps on May 27 and 29, and that $68,246 in fees was recovered.

Firefighters injured in apartment blaze Three firefighters were injured and three apartment buildings heavily damaged in a two-alarm fire yesterday at a Randallstown apartment complex, officials said. Seventeen apartments were damaged in the three adjoining brick buildings in the Brookhaven Estates complex in the 5400 block of Old Court Road, said Lt. John Cromwell, a county fire spokesman. The cause of the fire, which was reported about 2 p.m., was under investigation last night, he said.

A woman's purse was stolen after she was accosted by two people outside a bank at Owen Brown Village Center in the 7200 block of Cradlerock Way Thursday night, police said.The woman told police she was confronted by the pair at 11:15 p.m., with one of them grabbing her purse and struggling with her until its strap broke, police said.The suspects then fled to the Owen Brown Place parking lot, where they got into a gold car, possibly a Chrysler LeBaron, police said.One is described by police as a black youth, 13 or 14 years old, about 140 pounds and wearing a matching blue checked shirt and shorts.

POLICE LOG* Long Reach: 8700 block of Hayshed Lane: A man tried to grab a woman's purse Tuesday at 11 p.m. He broke the strap but did not get the purse.5400 block of White Mane: Someone broke a basement window of a home and entered it Tuesday or Wednesday. Nothing was taken.

Two people tried to steal an Ellicott City woman's purse Sunday as she left the Safeway on U.S. 40 in the Normandy Shopping Center, Howard County police said yesterday.The 78-year-old woman was leaving the store at 6: 10 p.m. when she was accosted by a man and a woman. One grabbed the woman's purse, and they fled on foot.A passer-by followed the two and recovered the victim's purse, police said.One assailant was described as a chubby, black man, 5 feet 9 inches tall, in his late teens to early 20s, with short hair and dark skin.

Baltimore man, 28, reports assaultA Baltimore man was assaulted early Friday outside of the Rumble Fish Night Club.According to the police report, Jamie J. Leonard, 28, of the 500 block of Carisbad Court, was leaving the club in the 7900 block of Baltimore-Annapolis Road at 3 a.m. when an unidentified man punched him in the face.Mr. Leonard described his attacker as white, 5-feet 8-inches tall, with fair skin and brown shoulder-length hair.Police still seek man who snatched purseCounty police were looking yesterday for the man who snatched a woman's purse outside the Montgomery Ward store in Glen Burnie Thursday.

A North Laurel woman who fought with a robber near her car lost her purse to her attacker Wednesday evening, Howard County police said.The victim was not injured in the 6:30 p.m. attack, police said.According to police, a man grabbed the woman as she got out of her car in the 9100 block of Bourbon St. The man snatched the woman's purse and fled, police said.

A Churchton woman wanted as a suspect in the February robbery of an elderly, disabled Shady Side woman has turned herself in, county police reported yesterday. Veronica Lorraine Pratt, 44, of the 5000 block of Churchton Road, was charged with robbery and theft and was being held yesterday evening at the county detention center on Jennifer Road on $35,000 bond. The victim told police that she had just returned to her home in the 6200 block of Shady Side Road after withdrawing $500 from a Bank of America ATM when the robbery occurred Feb. 27. She was sitting in her van in her driveway about 5 p.m. when a woman in a brown station wagon drove in behind her, walked up, forced opened the passenger door and snatched the elderly woman's purse containing the money, according to a police report.

Two teen-agers have been arrested in a shooting last week in which three people were wounded outside a Southwest Baltimore liquor store, including a man who intervened as an attempt was made to rob a woman of her purse, police said yesterday. Charged with attempted first-degree murder, robbery and handgun violations were Travis Miller, 18, of the 200 block of S. Augusta Ave. and Jerry Arshard Jackson, 17, of the 1500 block of Northwick Ave., who turned himself in Saturday and was booked as an adult.

A Churchton woman wanted as a suspect in the February robbery of an elderly, disabled Shady Side woman has turned herself in, county police reported yesterday. Veronica Lorraine Pratt, 44, of the 5000 block of Churchton Road, was charged with robbery and theft and was being held yesterday evening at the county detention center on Jennifer Road on $35,000 bond. The victim told police that she had just returned to her home in the 6200 block of Shady Side Road after withdrawing $500 from a Bank of America ATM when the robbery occurred Feb. 27. She was sitting in her van in her driveway about 5 p.m. when a woman in a brown station wagon drove in behind her, walked up, forced opened the passenger door and snatched the elderly woman's purse containing the money, according to a police report.

A 26-year-old Harundale woman told police she was raped at gunpoint early yesterday by a man who got into her house through a rear door. The victim called police at 1:51 a.m. to report the attack, telling police she was asleep when a man entered her bedroom and sexually assaulted her, covering her mouth to keep her from screaming and holding a gun to her head as he raped her. He threatened to kill her if she made a sound, the woman told police. After the assault, he left the woman bound in her bed and threatened to kill her if she told anyone, according to the police report.

A woman's woman's handbag can be the most essential, dependable, cluttered, dramatic, sensual element in her life. She may rely upon it more than she does upon her sitter or her husband. It can hold more secrets than her most faithful friend. Its loss might be felt more keenly than the loss of a hairdresser, yet a new handbag can feel like a new love: the promise of a fresh start and the hope for perfection. Her handbag can be as whimsical as beads, fur and straw flowers or as severe as black patent leather.

A man trying to steal a woman's purse dragged her 20 feet through a Long Reach Village Center gas station parking lot over the weekend, Howard County police said.About noon Saturday, the man -- described as a black male between 35 and 40, about 5 feet 8 inches tall, wearing a dark jacket and sneakers -- wrestled the woman's purse away, police said.The victim, whom police did not immediately identify, was not injured.Last week, police reported a similar incident in Long Reach, during which an unknown assailant struck a woman in the back of her head, knocked her unconscious and then stole her purse.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes in Baltimore and Baltimore County.Central DistrictShooting: A 22-year-old man was admitted to Sinai Hospital after he was shot in the back while sitting in his car in the 400 block of W. Dolphin St. at 2: 55 a.m. yesterday.Northern DistrictShooting: A 25-year-old man was admitted to Maryland Shock Trauma Center after he was shot in the shoulder when he left the Hard Times Bar in the 2800 block of Huntington Ave. to make a telephone call at 12: 15 a.m. yesterday.

A 39-year-old Baltimore woman was robbed in front of an automatic teller machine Wednesday afternoon by a man who threatened her with a sharp object, county police said yesterday.Police said the woman had left a bank in the 5200 block of Ritchie Highway about 1:40 p.m. when a man came up behind her and poked a sharp object in her right side.The man did not touch the woman's purse, but took money she had obtained from the bank machine, police said.The robber is described as a black male with a dark complexion in his mid 30s, 5 feet 2 inches tall.

A man trying to steal a woman's purse dragged her 20 feet through a Long Reach Village Center gas station parking lot over the weekend, Howard County police said.About noon Saturday, the man -- described as a black male between 35 and 40, about 5 feet 8 inches tall, wearing a dark jacket and sneakers -- wrestled the woman's purse away, police said.The victim, whom police did not immediately identify, was not injured.Last week, police reported a similar incident in Long Reach, during which an unknown assailant struck a woman in the back of her head, knocked her unconscious and then stole her purse.

Howard County police are investigating an attempted robbery at the Mall in Columbia and a robbery of a woman in Fulton last week.About 8: 30 p.m. Thursday, a woman was about to enter her car at the mall when a man displayed what she thought was a gun, police said.The woman screamed and the man fled without taking anything, police said.Later that night, a Columbia woman was walking to her car from the High's convenience store on Murray Hill Road in Fulton when a man pointed a handgun at her, police said.